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First, it’s mementos from her past.
Days after Clark Kent’s funeral, the photograph Lex Luthor had stolen arrives at her work. I'ts sealed in a heavy, industrial Wayne Enterprises box. If it hadn't been hand delivered to her, Diana is sure it would've gotten lost among the similar boxes that filled the museum's artifact drop-off. Later, Bruce sends a framed photo of Steve holding his enlistment documents. Steve is young and proud with a wide smile across his face. This time the gift is carefully tucked between tissue paper in an elegantly wrapped box. Apparently Bruce had found the photo, himself, in an old building turned new Wayne Enterprises research center. The coincidence is not lost on her.
He sends her a phone. The black bow tied around the box feels like silk between her fingers. From the outside it looks like the type of delicate gift a lover would send. She laughs, suddenly and loudly, at the juxtaposition,and at his paranoia. The fresh out of college, archives intern, filing paper work in the outer office gives her a weird look. His eyebrows are raised from behind his glasses reaching up close to his hairline. Later, one of the older museum volunteers, Charlie, brings her coffee and tells her, with a blush on his cheeks, that there is a rumor that she’s Bruce Wayne’s mistress. She laughs again. Bruce Wayne isn’t committed or clever enough for mistresses.
She and Bruce exchange emails and text messages. Diana sends handwritten thank you notes (because she’s old fashioned that way). Bruce writes her back; bold, masculine strokes on crisp Wayne Enterprises stationary.
Next, it’s tickets to the ballet (and the opera, a private screening of a documentary, an art show, and the opera again).
It's always a single ticket. A conversation with Alfred reveals that while ‘Master Bruce’ doesn’t want to force his company on her, he also doesn’t want her going with anyone else. She asks Bruce if he would accompany her to the Odyssey (a new original ballet he sent her a ticket for), asks if there’s any way she could find another ticket. He says he 'just so happens to have one'. 'A billing mistake', he claims. They sneak in the back entrance but their picture makes the front page of six different newspapers. The Star accompanies it with an article about Wayne Enterprises’ "new mission for peace over war". Diana clips out the article (without the picture) and sends it to him. The beginning of a legacy of peace. I am proud to know you.
Then his gifts get more personal.
The Guggenheim, where she’s working authenticating and restoring antiques, buys a lot of statues and jewelry from a group of smugglers using the alleged artifacts to transport drugs and money across borders. The museum curators insist they didn’t know about the smuggling. After one of the children used to smuggle the statuary dies in immigration holding, the case ends up on the front page of The Daily Planet. Lois Lane’s name is on the bi-line but Diana can’t help but notice the piece packs less of a punch that her earlier articles . Diana Prince is forced to sludge through hate emails in her inbox and paparazzi on her way to work. Wonder Woman takes out of dozens of smuggling operations in the middle east (She does so quietly and discretely. She was born and raised a warrior but that doesn’t make the responsibility easy.). She’d be too tired to remember to eat but like clockwork, lunch arrives for her every day. One day it’s the best Greek food she’s had outside of Thymescira. The next day its salad from a farm to table restaurant she walks past every day but has never gotten to try. There is never a note but Diana feels his intention; he's trying to feed her soul by feeding her body.
On the anniversary of Steve’s death, she goes to the memorial wall, presses her hand against the cold marble, and says a prayer – to his God and her goddesses – that his soul has found peace. When she opens her eyes she sees a bouquet on the ground. Its comprised of flowers and herbs she knows from her childhood. Her people believed that such a bouquet would buy safety and peace in the world beyond. The flowers are for the man she lost but the card is to her, from the man she’s beginning to find.
Winter brings with it cold, melancholy, and depression. Diana misses the warm, salt breezes of home. She misses her sisters and halls filled with laughter. The silence of night, crowds against her in her apartment, makes her ache. Bruce notes the sadness in her voice during one of their phone calls (they do that now, almost every night. His calls are expected but not so routine they make her feel suffocated). She shrugs it off, instead asking about the threat of the three boxes. He’s constantly searching, constantly reviewing the data. He thinks he’s about to go on a recruitment trip, traveling the world to find help. Diana tells him the idles of the war between her people and the Aquamen. She can hear him chuckle over the phone, a soft chuff. She thinks she did a fairly good job at deflecting, but the next day as she’s on her rounds through the museum, she sees a familiar figure.
Alfred explains that he’s not there to keep tabs on her. "Ms. Diana, I didn’t even know this was your museum", he lies unconvincingly. It comes out over coffee and delicate Greek pastry (hand packed, dry iced, and shipped from a family bakery in Gotham) that ‘Master Bruce’ thought she could use some cheering up. He regales her of stories about Bruce’s childhood. Eventually they end up discussing the three boxes. Alfred leaves her with a box of research he and Bruce had scrounged up. On the top of the stack of papers is a white paper bag packed with salt water taffy. As close as I could come to salt breezes. Diana hears in the gift. Her heart feels lighter than it has in weeks. Over their nightly phone call she thanks Bruce. She expects him to deflect but his voice is rough, husky when he says "You’re welcome.”
A week later a box arrives at her office. It’s neatly wrapped (as always). She opens the card. To keep you warm during our travels.
The fur cape is one of the most exquisite items of clothing she has ever seen. The concept drawings reveal inspiration from ancient Grecian warriors and goddesses - from the lore of her people. Its soft in her hands, she can only imagine how warm. It's a well thought out piece. Diana curls the cape around her neck and finds that the length is perfect - long and elegant, without hindering her movement.
Though they haven’t discussed it in as many terms, Diana isn’t surprised when a sleek black car picks her up from work the next evening and takes her straight to the airport. Bruce doesn’t make the mistake of helping her up the steps to his private jet, nor does he comment on the fact that their in flight meal is made up of her favorite dishes. She doesn’t mention his latest gift, though she’s grateful (flattered, she begrudgingly admits to herself), the presumption of sending a woman a gift of clothing is not lost on her.
They fight with everything they are. Warriors, never backing down. Their words are well chosen ( a foot in the jugular, a dagger in the back, a sword through the heart). Later, after she digs down deep into herself, she decides to come clean. She doesn’t apologize. She tells him the truth. She shares how deeply Steve’s death hurts her. She wears the cape. Its even warmer than she thought but not heavy. Bruce doesn’t say a word but she can see the flame in his eyes (not a flickering candle but a fire). His fingers clench white around the glass of bourbon in his hand. His armor is on the floor. Diana is curled in hers but she has rarely felt more vulnerable - certainly not in decades.
After the world is saved, he sends her real estate options, charters, and mission statements. Clark’s name joins Bruce’s in the signature boxes at the bottom of many documents. They debate wording here or punctuation there but in the end, they’re agreed. She signs the paper work and receives a key in the mail. It bears an etching of a woman in a flowing dress, scales of justice held against her chest. It’s not a working key, but she understands the symbolism. She wears it around her neck on a chain, tucked close to her heart.
After half a decade of friendship, two years of nights spent together at the Justice League Headquarters or his place or hers, he celebrates his birthday by giving her a ring. The gift isn't in a box this time but curled in his palm. It's not an engagement ring; they aren’t promised. Diana detests the historical traditions and modern connotations of marriage. She will not be sold or bought. She had explained this to him long ago. The ring is a token, like warriors gave to loved ones before battles. It’s a precious gift, a golden band cut delicately to mimic the floral laurels her mother had often worn. The stones were borrowed from Bruce’s mother’s own rings.
Three years later, after he leaves her in a battle for the safety of their world, his lawyers track her down. She’d been (hiding out) at work each day and working out (her demons) at night. They hand her a box. The mere act of receiving a package from him feels like a knife blade through her heart. If she sits down to open it, its not because her body is trembling. The package, contains, a hand-stitched leather box and a Wayne Enterprises folder. He leaves her every memento he’s ever collected; the other tickets in the pairs he bought her for so many performances, tabloid pictures of the two of them together, research on her history, her life, her people, his key to her apartment, and menus from her favorite restaurants. He leaves her his company. Not all of it (his legacy would’ve been a burden) but the applied sciences and research divisions, his charitable organizations and his defense contracts. There is no one else I trust to ensure my company continues a legacy of peace.
When she buries him, it’s with a bouquet of flowers that ensure his soul will finally find peace.